The New York Yankees face a monumental task in their bid to overcome a 3-0 deficit in this year’s World Series. However, they’ve already defied recent history by taking the first step.
In defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 on Tuesday night, the Yankees live to fight another day, with Game 5 on tap Wednesday night in the Bronx.
There have been 25 teams in World Series history who have trailed 3-0. The Yankees are one of just four to have even forced a Game 5. Of those four teams, none has ever made it to a Game 6.
How many MLB teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win?
Expanding our scope to all best-of-seven MLB playoff series, 41 teams have won the first three games against their opponents. In all but 10 occasions, those clubs have gone on to record a sweep.
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Of those 10 teams who lost Game 4, five were able to close things out in Game 5.
There have been two occasions in which a team with a 3-0 lead has lost three in a row to set up a Game 7. In the 2020 American League championship series, the Tampa Bay Rays won the first three against the Houston Astros, but managed to take Game 7 and the AL pennant.
Only once in MLB history has a team come all the way back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
MLB’s greatest postseason comeback
The Boston Red Sox famously trailed the New York Yankees three games to none in the 2004 ALCS, but rallied to win the next four games and advance to the World Series.
It was a comeback for the ages, and one that spawned a recently released Netflix documentary.
The extra-innings victory in Game 4 turned utilityman Dave Roberts into a folk hero in New England for his crucial steal of second base in the bottom of the ninth that kept the Red Sox’s season alive. That same Dave Roberts is now the manager of the Dodgers and trying to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.
The Red Sox went on to win Game 5 at home before taking two in Yankee Stadium to complete the history-making comeback. The magical season concluded with a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.